If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

DVD deleted scenes

I'm not trying to create a glut of topics, but I imagine there's gonna be a lot of DVD discussion, so maybe it should be spread out a bit.

I'm just curious, first of all, what everyone thinks of the cut scenes. Here's my take:

Podrace grid/lap two:
I'll take these two together, since they're the same thing. As edited back into the film, the bits and pieces worked quite well. Ani's confrontations with Gasgano and Teemto were great, as was the slightly extended intros and the Xexto vendor. The longer versions, well, they sucked. Ratts Tyrell was funny in the original cut, but here he comes across as more unfunny than Fode and Beed ever imagined. The Jawas looked rather fakey. Sebulba's flamethrower was overused in a short period of time. And I much preferred the cleanup droid sequence on the Insider's Guide CD-ROM, where we see Gasgano standing beside the wreckage of his pod, looking disappointed.

Farewell to Jira:
This is one I wanted to see and was disappointed by. It was okay, except that it included Jira. That and that no one seems able to notice those Sith droids. If it came any closer to Jira, it would've needed a marriage license!

Dawn before the race:
Another one that works well in the book, but is just a bit dull. Kitster's eopies looked kinda fake at the beginning, but not enough to detract. It would've slowed the story down considerably.

Coruscant taxi:
I liked this, though it was gratuitous. But since it was worked into the new cut of the film, it shouldn't have been in the deleted scenes. Anyone know what kind of alien the driver is? He looks very much like a wizened old Bothan.

Waterfall:
The cream of the crop. I always thought Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had to forcibly rescue Jar Jar, but this is better since it isn't as corny.

Anakin's scuffle with Greedo:
Bad! Bad! Bad! In the commentary, everyone says it was deleted for reasons other than the obvious. If Greedo is Ani's age and this is to forecast his eventual violent death in ANH, it doesn't work. Period. If Greedo was as stupid as he's portrayed in ANH, he'd never be old enough to survive to that film. And it's nice to have a couple of characters who don't personally know young Vader. This is the only one I wouldn't count as canon now--I think I'll henceforth refer to it as "Greedo punched first."

I have to admit that I only watched the waterfall scene. I didn't want to watch everything in one sitting so I'm trying to avoid all the discussion over the content.

I thought it was an OK scene. I can see why Lucas threw it out of the final cut. It really has no place in the story except to see them disembark and walk up to the palace. You could tell that the CG, i.e., Jar Jar, was done somewhat hastily and wasn't as good as the stuff from the movie. Kind of like how a direct-to-video Disney movie has inferior animation to the theatrical releases.

I think the real reason why it was cut is that Jar Jar almost croaked and all the SW fans could have written Lucas and asked why he didn't let JJ stay in the bongo for a few more seconds before it went over the edge.

The quality of the CG aside, I'm really glad they threw in the extra scenes. You can never get enough SW.

"I'm just a YES man trying to make my way in the universe." - Jango McCallum

"Good dialogue and smooth editing are no match for a good YES man by your side, kid." - George Lucas

The acting with Jira "You're the nicest boy in the whole freakin galaxy bit" was bad. Same with the fact that she doesn't notice the Sith probe at all.

Next, the droid is supposed to be secretly stalking them:

a) Maul wants to personally surprise and kill the Jedi

b) the darn droid gets so close behind them, it'd be impossible not to notice the thing - it's like a horn-dog attached to Qui-Gon's ankle.

So of course Qui-Gon notices the thing, and slices it in half, but it would have made sense for the droid to hang back, like it did in the pod race arena when Qui-Gon collected from his bet.

If the droid wanted to fire, it had every opportunity, also...

Finally, wouldn't it have been cooler if Qui-Gon threw his lightsaber and hit the droid at a distance, quickly using the Force to cut the blade off and be as secretive as possible, still given the circumstances?

But the scene still should've been left in the movie, to establish why they're running back to the ship when Maul attacks. In Lucas' narration, he says it's plain to the viewer of the theatrical release. No it's not! Sorry George. You don't win me over on this one.

Originally posted by Tycho But the scene still should've been left in the movie, to establish why they're running back to the ship when Maul attacks. In Lucas' narration, he says it's plain to the viewer of the theatrical release. No it's not! Sorry George. You don't win me over on this one.

Actually, I don't think you give the audience enough credit. It's very obvious. Besides who wants everything spelled out for them? It's much more fun to have stuff that makes you think long after seeing the movie.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

Originally posted by bigbarada
Actually, I don't think you give the audience enough credit. It's very obvious. Besides who wants everything spelled out for them? It's much more fun to have stuff that makes you think long after seeing the movie.

I'm with Tycho on this one. It's only obvious now in hindsight that they felt they had to run back to the ship. Unless you read the book or heard a lot about what was in the script beforehand there was no way of putting the two together without this scene. The part with Jira was kind of lame up to the part when QG halves the droid. It would have been better not to have shown any more of the old bag, then show Qui-Gon surprising the droid and destroying it.

Regardless of the content, it was nice just to see some 'new' SW footage. I guess I need another fix before EP2 comes out.

"I'm just a YES man trying to make my way in the universe." - Jango McCallum

"Good dialogue and smooth editing are no match for a good YES man by your side, kid." - George Lucas

i think the best deleted scene is one that wasn't ever completed,as far as we know. it's the one where qui-gon and maul battle on the ramp of the queen's ship. we all knew this was in the book, but it was filmed because there is a photo of the duel in the photo gallery of the dvd. what suprised me was lucas saying qui-gon cut the ramp causing maul's fall. that would of been cool.

and then for the rest of the film, everyone would of had to hop on and off the queen's ship.

i guess this and many other deleted scenes will be on the special edition dvd released in a few years.

The entire Jira sequence is and always has been pointless. I've never been able to figure out why it is there. The best reason I've come up with so far is that Jira is played by somebody's mother and was written in just to get her into the movie somehow.

The Waterfall sequence is indeed pointless and should have been left out. Not to mention that it looks terrible. I've seen amatuer rearscreen projection that looks better.

The more I watch the entire film, the more I grow disenchanted with CG characters. It is still far too obvious which ones are digital and the characters who are guys in masks.

The extended podrace stuff was cool, but again in the context of the whole story fails to sell what was meant to be the point of it: that Anakin had Force potential. The extended shots almost get there, but it is all ruined by that magnetic catcher thingy.

Some of the humor should have been left in the race. Maybe that would have given it some redeeming qualities since the purpose was lost.

The flamethrower was overused but it would have been nice to see it in the original cut one time. But it brings up a previous question about what kind of race this was supposed to be. Sebulba always wins and everybody knows that he cheats to do it. Why wouldn't all the racers band together beforehand and arm themselves to the teeth to take him out during the race? He's like a terrorist who gets away with it everytime in plain view of everybody. That didn't make sense originally and would have made less sense had the extended shots been included.

It's too bad that there isn't an option on all DVD's that let you pick and choose which scenes and/or shots that you'd like to include in your viewing of the entire movie. That way we could have our own cut without having to endure the stuff that is unwatchable.

Originally posted by stillakid It's too bad that there isn't an option on all DVD's that let you pick and choose which scenes and/or shots that you'd like to include in your viewing of the entire movie. That way we could have our own cut without having to endure the stuff that is unwatchable.

What a great idea! It's too bad they didn't do that. Of course there would have to be enough room on the first DVD in order for them to do that.

Sometimes when I watch ANH or the other CT movies I wish I could just see some of the newer stuff while cutting out the rest, like watching the original ending of ROTJ instead of the multi-planet view. I hope they eventually do something like that once they release the CT on DVD.

"I'm just a YES man trying to make my way in the universe." - Jango McCallum

"Good dialogue and smooth editing are no match for a good YES man by your side, kid." - George Lucas

Gads!! I can't beileve it!!! This is a first! I completely disagree with you , MC, about the new ending for ROTJ. I like it much better as it has "more nobility" and ties stuff up a little better.

But, that's not the point of this thread, so onward...

The overall opinion we had at my house was that the deleted scenes were definitely worth seeing and much better than the deleted scenes, of most other films, that are mastered off of working loops. It is understandable why some of the scenes were cut as they would have slowed the pacing of the film. I think it is we fanboys who are more concerned about detail- most of the general public looks at the film as just entertaining "fluff", which it really is.

1. The podrace scenes were interesting, but would have dragged out the scene a little too long. A little more of "what happened to the other podracers" would have been nice in the original cut, though.

2. The Jira scene was okay in the book, but failed on the screen. The probe was pretty loud and only a total moron would have missed it. I think the whole point of Jira was to "show" what Mos Espa's population generally thought of Anakin. If he was nice to old ladies, then... he must have been nice to pretty much everyone. Still... (yawn).

3. Dawn- it was interesting to see, but it was more like everyone stand around looking at each other while Anakin wakes up. The kicker for me was... WHAT WAS UP WITH THREEPIO'S DIALOGUE???!!! How stiff was THAT?

4. Coruscant Taxi scene was pretty cool. I liked the way Anakin turned around and kinda threw Qui-Gon a dirty look... kinda like "Hey! Are you talking about me???". The overall effects were nice... kinda like the whole Cloud City thing in ESB.

5. The Waterfall was interesting in that we got to see the Jedi and Jar Jar enter the Palace. That was the only really good thing about it. The CG looked a little TOO CG in a few places... but that's water for you. Hopefully Kamino will look a little better!

6. Greedo punched first- probably. That's not the point though. There's too much OT stuff going on here. Anakin, Threepio and Obi-Wan would have been sufficient connections for the ET. I suppose it was just a way to illustrate Anakin's anger, but using a really stupid method to do so.